Since the Chamberlain was to be the voice of conscience of the side that led the border route, it is clear that the oath must have had great importance in border law. So the nobles swore, the old peasants swore, the actor swore, i.e. the leading line followed by the entire office and the court, piled mounds and cut crosses to mark the boundaries. Below, in numerous records from Lviv, Przemyśl, and several from Sanok, we have examples of oaths taken by the parties, we also have a detailed oath routine, according to which Ruthenians took an oath in the Orthodox church in front of their priest, accompanied by a curse formula^l), we also have detailed routines for Catholics. This proves the sincerity of conscience of the society of that time that here, where so many doubts were accumulated and the truth to which people were striving was so uncertain, they did not want to burden the conscience of those who had to take an oath. And so we see that the parties agree to release the elderly from the oath 32); other times the Chamberlain himself releases with the consent of the parties
'*) Z. 2145. **) Nos yidentes senum discordem et non verificam ostensionem, iuxta conscienciam nostram etc, zap. 3038, 3039. *°) Succamerarius communicato consilio cum sibi assidentibus stetit neo amplius procedit, zap. N. 3101. cf. 3086. 2977. ") Zap. 3078, 3082. *') Zap. 2961, 2j77, 3083. «") Zap. 2981. Such information was sometimes included in the chamberlain's files, as the chamberlain refers to this circumstance. ") Prem. Bitch. 254 p. 327. "^ Zap. 3095, 3096. 3") See below, Sanok's note from 1518 1. 3117- ") Zap. 2972, 3014, 3029.
XIV
witnesses from taking an oath, because, as he states in his act, he is afraid to burden their conscience 33) even sometimes he does not take the oath and only when the witnesses do not agree in their testimonies, he orders an oath 34). Sometimes, with the help of someone from his environment, he explains to the parties the meaning of the oath and, with all the force of his conviction, encourages the parties to deviate from the rigor of the law requiring an oath and reconcile through an amicable court. And here we see in one of the Sanok records Stadnicki, the castellan of Sanok from 374 years ago, speaking as if in our eyes to the parties, after the meeting of the chamberlain's court 35); Consider the necessity of an oath, he said, which must be taken by the one to whom the suit is brought. You have to swear seven times, and there is a risk of burdening the conscience of both parties. A perjurer incurs God's wrath, which lasts for generations and never leaves such a house. And can which side say that this is my own land on which I now stand? Neither of you can say for sure that I and my predecessors have always been in peaceful possession of this land, because neither opinion nor your elders on both sides maintain that a demarcation has ever been made here. And since none of you can say for sure: it's mine, I beg you to be the guardians and judges of your conscience. And I beg you, mutual friends, to prevent this oath from taking place.
Only the one to whom the Chamberlain's judgment awarded the claim and, therefore, the conduct of the route, had to take an oath twice, as stated, on the last border mound36]. It was a difficult task of the Chamberlain to judge from the border signs indicated by both sides which signs more correctly indicated the border line and to impose an act on the side that indicated the better signs. It is true that the legislation made the task of the Chamberlain a bit easier, as the statute of Jagiełło's Warka provided instructions on the award of the actorship, but here in the east, where there were no border signs, where the border mounds or entries mentioned by the king were not dense. The chamberlain had considerable difficulties at the very beginning of the division to overcome. It was an easy task when both parties, as mului acłores (i.e. neither of them had been awarded an act of indictment), asked the office of the Chamberlain to act on their behalf37) or when one party voluntarily admitted the claim to the other in the document38) because the Chamberlain only confirmed this resignation, but in a whole host of other cases the difficulties were considerable to overcome. Because, as already mentioned, there were few border signs in these parts, even fewer documents describing the borders39j, information about the borders had to be obtained from the right of use 40)^ from the geographical location, from natural borders, as rivers
") Zap. 3020 cf. 2977. ") Zap. 3053, 3026. "} Ob. no. 3065, 3075, 3013, 3028. Here are all examples. '») Kmethonum antecessores nunąuam in possesione ac utifructione pacifica fore. zap. 3126; iuxla progressum suum alias according to his inn z. 3081; habere usum continuum z. 3075.